P.S. – Funny that I come across bit of data on environmental destruction after publishing my last blog. (And I found this data on cracked.com is quite amusing!) The data is primarily centered around impact of American consumerism on environment. The data is frightening in itself. And since rest of the world wants to live in American luxury the impact on environment will be catastrophic.
Shall we?
Various plugged-in devices (in US alone) when not in use accounts up to 10 percent of total power usage. That translates into 100 billion pounds of carbon dioxide emission every year. And that converts into staggering $3 Billion.
US alone boast 50,000 square miles of lawn turfs. To maintain such a gigantic level of sheer idiocy 200 gallons of water per person is spent. US population is more than 300 million. So you multiply 300 million with 200 and I will see you next year! Don’t laugh…..I want you to do the math and count the zeroes for me. And when you are doing that math visualize the barren deserts of once green Africa!
One of the most brazen, visible and yet seemingly mundane act of humongous environmental destruction is use of toilet paper to wipe your ‘you know what’. 36 billion paper rolls are used in US every year! That’s right 3 6 b I l l I o n ! That translates into 27 percent of world’s total TP wood harvest….every year! Of that gigantic number only 2 percent is recycled paper. What if transition is made to more recycled paper? Sounds so earthly right? Because it will save 425,000 trees per year. No wait….I got that wrong. If each household in US replace a single roll of triple-layered Charmin with recycled one then 425,000 trees per year can be saved. But guess who won? Damn you triple-layered Charmin! Damn you!
Around 147 million gallons of fuel is wasted per year because driver didn’t completely shut the gas cap. Remember, if left open, petrol evaporates? What about driving in underinflated tires? Around 1.2 billion gallons of gas gone! Did you know drivers of 18 wheelers leave their truck engine running overnight so that it’s ready to go in the morning? I didn’t and that’s after living in this country for 10 years. However I wasn’t driving the 18 wheeler around the block and keeping it running when I go to bed! Anyhow, coming back to the point – such a spoiled brat behavior costs 838 million gallons of petrol per year. Yep, just like that we won’t ever see a drop of 838,000,000 gallons of petrol ever again…..like…never ever again!
Now this is absolutely bizarre - did you know that hormonal birth control that women all over the world intake cause immense damage to the fishes in the river? No, seriously, the medicines pumped into woman’s body gets flushed out through toilet into rivers. The fishes in the water are suddenly bombarded with hormonal stuff from all over. This causes colonies of fish with gender issues seriously depleting their population. Serious
I presented only four absolutely mind-numbing and one absolutely weird fact to support my argument. Google environmental destruction facts and you will be truly depressed. What gets me is how simple it is to lessen our footprint on the environment. Caring for environment does not mean selling everything and moving to the caves. If we consume what we need and conserve what we can then it is sustainable. But if we are unable to, or worse, refuse to be sensible on this issue then even if humans miraculously survive this century they will be living in the caves.
With cockroaches, of course, and no Bayer!
